As the spread of the novel coronavirus continues to disrupt the business environment, travel booking app Hopper is the latest company to announce layoffs.
"It is with heavy hearts that we have had to make the very difficult decision to reduce our workforce," Hopper's director of communications, Brianna Schneider, said in an email to BostInno. "We are deeply saddened to part ways with the exceptionally talented individuals who have contributed to Hopper’s mission, and yet we know that it is necessary for us to take these measures to ensure that we will be there for our customers and partners long into the future."
The company declined to answer questions about how many employees were laid off and in what departments, saying instead that the layoffs had affected employees across business areas and regions.
Schneider added that Hopper has taken additional steps to reduce all non-essential spending, including pausing marketing efforts and evaluating facilities, software and other expenses.
The travel industry has faced a disproportionate impact, even as the U.S. as a whole teeters on the edge of recession. Elsewhere in Boston, corporate travel startup Lola.com and trip planning software startup Wanderu have also laid off or furloughed employees. Found in 2015 by co-founders Joost Ouwerkerk and Frederic Lalonde, the Montreal-based startup has offices in Cambridge, New York and Sofia, Bulgaria.
The Labor Department announced last week that in March alone, the US economy lost 701,000 jobs, taking the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent. Last week, a record 6.6 million filed for unemployment in the country. Closer to home, the number of unemployment claims in Massachusetts grew to 181,062 for the week ending March 28. That’s up from 147,995 claims the prior week.
Hopper raised $100 million in a Series D funding round in October 2018 to expand it’s market presence outside North America and continue its AI development.
